A MILESTONE in the development of the Warner Bros games business was buying key Midway Games assets when the firm fell into bankruptcy. Specifically, it swooped for the Mortal Kombatfranchise and its developer talent, including original creator Ed Boon. Warner’s first MKgame arrived in April, and was only held off from a UK No.1 by Portal 2. “We are very pleased with the success of Mortal Kombatso far,” says Tremblay, adding that the game has now sold close to 3m units worldwide.

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Mortal Kombat has already paid for the acquisition of the Midway assets.

Martin Tremblay, WBIE

“With the launch of Mortal Kombat, we have already paid for the acquisition of the Midway assets, and we are just beginning to leverage this acquisition with much more to come.”

As well as publishing core gamer titles, WBIE has held true to its mass market roots releasing a string of best-selling kids’ and more casual games such as the LEGO titles. More of those, plus a Sesame

Streetgame, are on the way, but last month key figures said that the younger and casual audience is drifting from traditional games. What’s Warner doing to appeal to them? He says: “We are continuing to see the popularity of the LEGO games soar as they get better with more enhanced graphics and gameplay mechanics. Thus,

we are looking forward to launching LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7this autumn. The acquisition of TT Games in 2008 placed us in a leadership role with kids and casual gaming, and we continue to invest in that space with upcoming titles like Happy Feet Two. “Warner also took a new approach to the pre-school market with the Sesame Streetgames for Wii and DS, and we have found there is an audience for this type of educational, inspirational game. This is why we are excited to launch the Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monsterin September for Kinect.”